Lib at Large: Controversy swirls with the music at Sonoma State's fabulous new concert hall

The superlatives were soaring through the late summer air last weekend at the gala opening of Sanford I. Weill Hall, the sensational $145 million concert venue and music complex on the Sonoma State University campus in Rohnert Park.

The Press Democrat hailed the highly anticipated opening extravaganza, capped by a noisy fireworks display that sparked 150 911 calls from startled and angry neighbors, as "easily the largest and most widely noticed social-cultural event ever in Sonoma County."

Every one of the hall's 1,400 "acoustically neutral" seats were filled, and the modular rear wall was opened onto a terraced lawn, where as many as 5,000 people watched the Saturday night opening concert by the flamboyant Chinese pianist Lang Lang on giant video monitors.

Modeled after Ozawa Hall, centerpiece of the prestigious Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, Weill Hall is the crown jewel of the Green Music Center. When finished, it will boast performance halls, classrooms, an outdoor pavilion, , restaurant and other amenities.

"I don't know of any other university in the United States that has a facility as nice as this that can be utilized by its students," said "Sandy" Weill, a retired Wall Street banker who put up the $12 million that was needed to finish the project after it stalled during the recession. The hall is now named after him and his wife, Joan, as will be a 10,000-capacity outdoor pavilion still in the design phase. "I'm certainly hoping it's something that's used by people in San Francisco and Napa and that we all work together to make the whole area a better place," he added.

On opening night, Weill and his wife sat beside Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Anne Gust, former chief administrative officer of the Gap. Also in attendance were Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, and Rep. Lynn Woolsey. They were among the well-dressed luminaries at the heralded opening of what has been described as "the most controversial building in the university's history."

Controversy

One reason for that controversy is its namesake. Weill is the retired chairman and chief executive of Citigroup, the megabank that was rescued by a $45 billion federal bailout at the nadir of the 2008 economic meltdown. In its aftermath, Time magazine named him one of the "25 people to blame for the financial crisis."

According to an editorial in the New York Times, Weill "led the charge for the repeal of the 1933 law (the Glass-Steagall Act) that separated commercial banks from investment banks," a deregulation that led to reckless investment practices that brought about the financial crisis. He has since changed his tune, saying the wall between the two should be rebuilt.

In 2010, the 79-year-old financier and philanthropist paid $31 million for a 362-acre estate in the hills west of Sonoma. A champion of classical music — he's been chairman of the board of Carnegie Hall for 21 years — he made a huge splash in his new community with his generous gift. But not everyone was thrilled.

"As a social justice activist, one of the things that's of concern to me is where that money comes from that he's giving away," said Susan Lamont, a landscape architect and activist with the Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County. "Andrew Carnegie built libraries but he destroyed a lot of people's lives at the same time. I began looking into Weill, and read about him in mainstream publications that wouldn't necessarily be saying negative things about him. But they had tons of information on his role in bringing about the economic collapse. You can't totally ignore where his money comes from."

Reached at his office on the East Coast, Weill bristled at the criticism.

"I don't know what the heck they're talking about," he said. "How does the money come from the financial debacle? I wasn't in the business when the debacle happened. I retired as CEO of my company in December of 2003, which by the way I look at things is five years before it happened. ... Maybe they would have been better off if we never moved out there, but I don't think many people think that."

When Weill and his wife were given honorary degrees from the university in May, then-graduate student Christopher Bowers helped organize a graduation day protest. He and other students and faculty turned their backs when the Weills were being honored.

"From my perspective, Weill bought himself that degree," Bowers said. "Saying that he deserves a degree due to his largesse is like saying someone who robbed you of $100 deserves an award for giving $3 back. One reason I organized the protest was because I felt ashamed that we were honoring someone whose past actions have created so much suffering in our community. I feel Sonoma State should be ashamed of the way they pander to the powerful."

'How did this happen?'

The grandiose music complex began 15 years ago with the desire of former Marin residents Donald and Maureen Green for a venue suitable for choral music. They gave an original gift of $5 million, then later donated another $10 million in seed money for the hall.

The Greens' modest idea grew in grandeur after Sonoma State President Ruben Arminana and his wife visited Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, returning with the dream of building a hall just as world class at their little Wine Country university.

In his New York Times review of Weill Hall's opening night, classical music critic Anthony Tommasini pointed out that Sonoma State is one of the smaller universities in the California system with only about 8,000 full-time students and a mere 150 music majors.

"Yet Sonoma State, a university that does not even maintain a student symphony orchestra, now boasts a $145 million complex ... dominated by the impressive new Weill Hall ... " he wrote. "How did this happen?"

"I think you have to look at it several ways," Weill said. "What comes first, the chicken or the egg.? A facility like this will be a tremendous laboratory for growing performing arts studies. I would expect over time you'd see that number (of students) grow and become an important part of our society."

Whether that happens remains to be seen. At the moment, though, what makes such extravagance galling to some faculty members and students is the hard reality of Sonoma State's budget allocation from the California State University system being slashed by 30 percent since 2008. This year's $38.9 million share is down from $46 million last year. If Gov. Brown's tax initiative, Proposition 30, fails on Nov. 6, Sonoma State has to brace for another $5.75 million hit and even more cuts in its academic programs.

"We all see the cutbacks the state has been forced to make in higher education, " Weill said. "I think one of our goals should be to grow the school's ability to raise money through philanthropy faster than the state is going to cut back."

But that hasn't been the case, at least not yet, and the dire financial situation, compounded by the university administration's focus on the music center, drove art history instructor Susan Moulton, a former chair of the Academic Senate, to retire this summer after 42 years at Sonoma State.

"My program was dying, and there was no support for it at all," she said. "The controversy isn't directed at the music center as a music center, but rather the imbalance it represents in the needs of the campus. Our priority as faculty has been classes for students. When the greatest Draconian cuts were being sustained, tens of millions of dollars, considered 'soft money' from dorm revenues and parking revenues and food sales on campus were given to the music center. So the priorities of the administration were not the academic programs for which the university was designed, but rather this one enterprise."

Faculty unrest

In 2007, the faculty revolted. In a referendum, more than 73 percent voted no confidence in Arminana's leadership.

Arminana insists that "not a penny of tuition money, classroom money or faculty salaries" has gone into the music center. It was funded by private donations and more than $43 million in state construction bonds. Critics worry that the university is also responsible for the estimated $1 million a year it will cost to operate the concert hall. Ticket sales won't begin to cover it.

"In any performance hall, you never can make the money on tickets to support the cost of the performances," Weill acknowledged. "This is not something unique. The rest of the money has to come from philanthropy and community support. I think that's what's happening already to a very big degree."

Susan Moulton doesn't think so. "There is not a program in the country that I know of that is in good shape financially because of philanthropy," she said. "All of these enterprises are suffering in these hard economic times. That may be optimistic thinking , but it doesn't seem to pan out in reality."

In what they see as another example of corperate intrusion into public education, she and other faculty and students are also critical of MasterCard's sponsorship of the music center's performance series and its support in building the outdoor pavilion that will adjoin Weill Hall.

"Sandy Weill brought in MasterCard, and now MasterCard has access to all our students," said sociology professor Noel Byrne. "Now they're going to be offering 'deals' for Sonoma State students. We all know we have a very significant problem with student debt. It's bad enough with the interest rates that typically characterize student loans. To bring a normal credit card into the picture on a large scale I believe is detrimental to the interests of the student. It could have consequences for the rest of their lives."

Marin impact

Jim Farley, longtime head of the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium and Marin Center's Showcase Theatre, sees Weill Hall as "a game changer for Sonoma County." But he also has taken note of the music center's aggressive marketing in Marin and the North Bay.

"I take them at their word when they say they need to draw from the whole region to make their venture successful," he said. "There will be some impact on us, but one that causes us to adjust and move forward."

Weill Hall will be the home of the Santa Rosa Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony has committed to concerts at the new venue as well.

"I can't see how it won't affect us in some way," said Jeff von Saal, the newly hired executive director of the Marin Symphony, noting that the symphony may have to rethink itself to remain competitive in a culturally rich market. "My take is we have to be on our toes and push ourselves to differentiate and offer something compelling and valuable that resonates with our community. The (classical music) industry is going through hard times right now. Ultimately, I have to believe that good things will come from this."